As Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industry navigates a rapidly evolving global landscape, innovation has become the defining factor for long-term competitiveness. From artificial intelligence and Industry 4.0 to circularity, digital transformation, and sustainability, the sector is being challenged to move beyond traditional manufacturing and embrace a culture of continuous improvement.
At the center of this transformation are engineering professionals and innovation platforms working to bridge the gap between technology, research, and industrial application.
One of the industry leaders driving this vision is Engr. MD. A.S.M. Hafizur Rahman Nixon, Executive Director of RH Corporation (Aziz Group), newly elected Secretary General of the Institution of Textile Engineers and Technologists (ITET), and a Member of the Textile Innovation Exchange (TIE).
Believing that “innovation becomes sustainable when it becomes a continuous process rather than a one-time event,” he advocates for stronger collaboration among manufacturers, academia, technology providers, researchers, and policymakers to build a resilient and innovation-driven textile ecosystem.
In this exclusive interview with Fashion Business Journal (FBJ), Engr. Nixon discusses how Bangladesh can strengthen its global competitiveness through engineering excellence, continuous innovation, and strategic collaboration.
FBJ: Congratulations on your election as General Secretary of ITET. How do you plan to align ITET’s engineering expertise with innovation platforms like Textile Innovation Exchange (TIE) to strengthen Bangladesh’s textile industry?
Engr. Nixon: Thank you very much. I am very happy and also feel a great responsibility after being elected as the Secretary General of ITET. I believe ITET has a very important role to play because we have thousands of textile engineers working across the complete textile and apparel value chain.
ITET represents the professional strength of our textile engineers and the technical knowledge that exists across Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industry. TIE, on the other hand, creates a broader platform where manufacturers, technology providers, brands, researchers, academia, policymakers, and industry professionals can connect around innovation.
My vision is to create stronger bridges between these two ecosystems.
As part of our ITET manifesto, we want to make ITET more connected, more knowledge-driven, and more relevant to the industry’s future challenges. We aim to strengthen professional development, establish stronger links with universities and research institutions, promote knowledge sharing, and create opportunities for our members to engage with emerging technologies.
I see significant potential for collaboration in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Industry 4.0, automation, sustainable manufacturing, circular economy, textile recycling, advanced materials, water and energy efficiency, and digital transformation.
My personal professional experience has also allowed me to work across different segments of the textile value chain—from textile chemicals and dyeing technology to printing, recycling, machinery, ERP, and digital systems. This has taught me that innovation rarely happens within one discipline. It happens when people from different areas come together to solve a real industrial problem.
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Therefore, I would like to see ITET become a stronger knowledge and innovation bridge for the industry, while platforms like TIE can help connect our engineers with the global innovation ecosystem.
FBJ: Bangladesh has long competed on cost, efficiency, and manufacturing excellence. Why is TIE now emphasizing that innovation must become the industry’s next core competence?
Engr. Nixon: We have done very well in the last 40 years. Bangladesh has become one of the world’s leading apparel manufacturing countries because of our cost competitiveness, hardworking people, manufacturing capability, and strong entrepreneurship.But the world is changing very quickly.
Today, our competitors are also improving. Vietnam is expanding its trade agreements and moving up the value chain. India is investing heavily in MMF, technical textiles, manufacturing parks, and technology. China is moving very fast with automation, AI, and smart manufacturing.
At the same time, buyers are asking for more. They want sustainability, traceability, transparency, faster delivery, and more flexibility.So, I think the old formula of “produce more at lower cost” will not be enough in the future.
We need to ask ourselves: How can we produce smarter? How can we reduce water and energy? How can we reduce waste? How can we use AI and automation? How can we recycle textile waste? How can we make higher-value products?
This is where innovation comes in. And innovation does not always mean developing a completely new machine or inventing something from zero. Sometimes, innovation is simply finding a better way to solve an existing problem.
For example, if a factory can reduce its dyeing water consumption by 20%, improve right-first-time production, reduce chemical wastage, or use data to predict machine maintenance—that is also innovation.
I believe our next competitive advantage should be based on productivity, sustainability, and innovation together.
FBJ: TIE brings together manufacturers, brands, technology providers, academia, researchers, policymakers, and industry associations under one platform. What practical advantages does this ecosystem offer compared to working in isolation?
Engr. Nixon: I think this is one of the biggest strengths of TIE.
In our industry, many times we work in isolation. A factory has a problem, but they try to solve it internally. A technology company develops a solution, but sometimes they don’t fully understand the actual factory problem. A university may have good research, but they may not have access to real industrial conditions.
If we can bring these people together, we can make the process much more practical.
For example, suppose a factory wants to reduce water consumption in dyeing. The factory knows the problem. A machinery company may have a low-liquor-ratio machine. A chemical company may have a new dyeing process. A university may be able to conduct research and analyze the results. A brand may be interested because it has its own sustainability targets.
If they all sit together, there is a much better chance of finding a solution.
From my own experience, I have worked with different types of technologies—from dyeing machines and textile chemicals to digital printing, recycling, and ERP systems. What I have learned is that technology is useful only when it solves a real problem and can be practically implemented in the factory.
That is why I think an ecosystem like TIE is important. It can help move us from simply showing new technology at exhibitions to actually implementing and measuring the impact of that technology in Bangladesh.
FBJ: Many factories believe innovation requires huge investments. Could you please share your thoughts regarding this?
Engr. Hafizur Rahman Nixon: I do not completely agree with that perception.
Some innovations certainly require significant capital investment, but innovation itself does not always require a large budget.
Innovation can begin with process improvement, data analysis, better maintenance systems, improved production planning, energy optimization, chemical management, waste reduction, or better utilization of existing machinery.
For example, a factory can start using data to identify why a particular machine is losing efficiency. It can introduce predictive maintenance instead of waiting for breakdowns. It can improve chemical dosing or reduce reprocessing. It can use digital tools to improve production visibility.
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These initiatives may generate significant returns without requiring massive capital expenditure.
I believe the right approach is to ask three questions:
What is the problem?
What is the measurable benefit of solving it?
What is the return on investment?
Innovation should be treated as an investment in competitiveness, not simply as an expense.
At the same time, we need to develop better financing and incentive mechanisms for strategic technologies. Government, financial institutions, development partners, and industry associations can play an important role in supporting factories that want to invest in energy efficiency, circularity, recycling, automation, and advanced manufacturing.
FBJ: TIE has introduced initiatives such as Innovation Circles (PIIC), research collaboration, readiness assessment, and innovation recognition. Which of these do you believe will have the greatest impact on Bangladesh’s competitiveness over the next five years, and why?
Engr. Nixon: I think all of these initiatives are important, but personally, I am very interested in Innovation Circles and industry–research collaboration.
The reason is simple: innovation becomes sustainable when it becomes a continuous process rather than a one-time event.
Innovation Circles can bring together people facing similar industrial challenges and allow them to share experiences, test solutions, and learn from each other. This can create a practical culture of “learning by doing.”
At the same time, research collaboration is essential because many of the challenges we face—textile recycling, advanced materials, water treatment, low-carbon manufacturing, and sustainable chemistry—cannot be solved by one company alone.
I also believe the innovation readiness assessment is extremely valuable because every factory is at a different stage of digital and technological maturity. We should not encourage every factory to adopt the same technology. Instead, we need to understand where a company stands today and identify the next logical step.
Innovation recognition is also important because it creates positive competition and gives visibility to successful examples.
Ultimately, I see these initiatives as interconnected:
Assess readiness → Identify problems → Build Innovation Circles → Collaborate with researchers and technology providers → Pilot solutions → Measure impact → Scale successful innovation → Recognize and share the results.
This can create a repeatable innovation ecosystem for Bangladesh.
FBJ: Bangladesh is approaching a new era shaped by LDC graduation, Digital Product Passports, circularity, AI, automation, and growing buyer expectations. How can TIE help factories prepare for these structural changes rather than simply react to them?
Engr. Nixon: Bangladesh must shift from a reactive approach to a proactive approach.
LDC graduation will change the competitive environment. At the same time, international buyers are increasingly demanding transparency, traceability, and measurable sustainability performance. Digital Product Passports and circularity requirements will eventually influence how products are designed, manufactured, tracked, and recycled.
TIE can play an important role by helping factories understand these changes before they become mandatory requirements.
For example, factories need to begin preparing today for:
- Digital traceability
- Product-level data management
- Circular design
- Textile-to-textile recycling
- Fibre identification and sorting
- AI-assisted production
- Automation and robotics
- Energy and carbon management
- Sustainable chemistry
- Water efficiency
- Supply-chain transparency
The key is to prepare before market pressure forces us to act.
I believe TIE can act as a bridge between global trends and local implementation—bringing international knowledge to Bangladesh while also highlighting solutions that are practical for our factories.
We also need to recognize that technology adoption should be strategic. Not every factory needs the most expensive or most sophisticated technology. The objective should be to identify the right technology for the right problem at the right time.
FBJ: Young textile engineers are entering an industry undergoing rapid transformation. What opportunities does TIE create for them to become innovation leaders instead of simply technical professionals?
Engr. Nixon: I believe the future of our industry will depend heavily on the next generation of textile engineers.
Today’s young engineer cannot remain limited to one technical discipline. A modern textile professional needs to understand technology, sustainability, data, business, finance, communication, and global market trends.
TIE can provide young engineers with an opportunity to interact directly with innovators, technology companies, researchers, manufacturers, and global industry leaders.
This exposure is extremely valuable.
Through innovation projects, Innovation Circles, research collaboration, and technology demonstrations, young engineers can learn how to identify industrial problems and develop solutions rather than simply operate existing systems.
As Secretary General of ITET, one of my priorities is to create more opportunities for young professionals to learn, connect, and contribute.
I would like to see stronger mentoring programs, technical knowledge-sharing sessions, industry visits, innovation challenges, research collaborations, and platforms where young engineers can present their ideas directly to industry leaders.
We should encourage our young engineers to become problem solvers, innovators, and future leaders.
My message to them would be – Do not limit yourself to becoming an expert in operating today’s technology. Prepare yourself to create, evaluate, and implement tomorrow’s technology.
The textile industry of the future will need engineers who can connect technology with business, sustainability with profitability, and innovation with real industrial impact.
That is where platforms such as TIE and professional organizations like ITET can work together to create the next generation of leaders for Bangladesh’s textile and apparel industry.
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